It really should come as no surprise to residents of a little Michigan town called Omena that their new mayor is a dog. Their former mayor was a cat!

The town of Omena is located in Leelanau County, overlooking Omena Bay, which is on the western side of Grand Traverse Bay. The town has a population of about 275 people.

The results of this year's mayors race were announced last Saturday. Their town's new mayor will be none other than Rosie Disch...who just happens to be a rescued yellow lab mix! Rosie takes over the mayoral title from mayor Sweet Tart McKee, a Norwegian forest cat, who was elected in 2018. Rosie received the most votes among the nineteen candidates running for the office. Omena holds their mayoral election every three years.

President of the Omena Historical Society, Sally Shapiro explained that Omena is an unincorporated village with no president or mayor. So they created the mayor out of animals. This year marks the fifth animal mayor the town has had. The list of former mayors includes three dogs and a cat.

The Omena Historical Society's website listed some of Rosie's information prior to her winning the election...

Her PAW-litical Hot Topic is Tick Vaccines for humans!

She does have a criminal record: "Once I jumped out of the car window, ran all the way across the parking lot, made my way through the automatic door at Family Fare in Traverse City, and found my human at the back of the store. The charges were dropped, because loyalty is not a crime."

The other election results give the First Vice-Mayor Position to Penny Labriola, a chicken who's favorite meal is meal worms. Former Mayor Sweet Tart McKee is now 2nd Vice-Mayor. The new Press Secretary is a goat named Sandra O’Day Jones. And a chihuahua named Chip Godlman becomes the International Campaign Manager.

It cost one dollar to cast your vote. This year's election raised $14,000 for the Omena Historical Society.

To see the complete results and to read more about the candidates, visit the Omena Historical Society's website. You can also get additional information on the Omena Historical Society Facebook page.

 

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